"Lions led by donkeys" is a phrase popularly used to describe the British infantry of the First World War and to condemn the generals who commanded them. The contention is that the brave soldiers (lions) were sent to their deaths by incompetent and indifferent leaders (donkeys). The phrase was the source of the title of one of the most scathing examinations of British First World War generals, The Donkeys by British historian Alan Clark.

Clark attributed the phrase to a conversation between German generals Erich Ludendorff and Max Hoffmann.

Ludendorff: The English soldiers fight like lions.

Hoffmann: True. But don't we know that they are lions led by donkeys.

The conversation was supposedly published in the memoirs of General Erich von Falkenhayn, the German commander-in-chief between 1914 and 1916. Hoffmann served the entire war on the Eastern Front and so never encountered British forces.

A less well known book to use the phrase for its title was Lions Led by Donkeys by Captain P.A. Thompson, published in 1927, the subtitle of which was "Showing how victory in the Great War was achieved by those who made the fewest mistakes."

The origins of the phrase pre-date the First World War. During the Crimean War, The Times of London wrote of the British Army, "The Russians say we are lions led on by asses". The Times recycled the phrase as "lions led by donkeys" with reference to French soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War. There were numerous examples of its use during the First World War, referring to both the British and the Germans.

External links

• The Western Front Association: British Military Leadership In The First World War, John Terraine, 1971
• Centre for First World War Studies: Lions Led By Donkeys